Bounty hunters lured by cull of the wild

WEARERS of luxury mink coats once saw themselves at the height of fashion, but mink has now become a pest and a plague on other wildlife.

Introduced here when fur-producing farms were being set up in the 1950s, American mink are now widespread in the wild and appear to have spread all over the country at an alarming rate, wreaking havoc on fisheries, nature reserves and ground-nesting birds.

There have been numerous reports of attacks on domestic fowl and poultry farms. Mink have even been sighted on Puffin Island and the Great Blasket Island, seabird sanctuaries of international importance.